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Welcome To The Smart Building Age: A Look At The Future Of Office Spaces

In the future, you’ll find office spaces in the Philippines in Smart Buildings. Smart buildings are structures that use automated processes to control the building’s operations which include ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, security and other systems. Like a well-designed machine, smart buildings use sensors, actuators, and microchips to perform based on a business’ functions and services. These types of infrastructures optimize how space is used.

In the past, buildings provided the bare essentials: shelter, temperature control, and safety. However, newer buildings or older structures that have been converted to smart buildings are connected to a network with intelligent and adaptable software.

Smart buildings make occupants more productive with lighting, thermal comfort, air quality, physical security, sanitation and more at lower costs and environmental impact than buildings that are not connected.

Buildings become “smart” by linking systems such as lighting, power meters, water meters, pumps, heating, fire alarms and chiller plants with sensors and control systems— even elevators, access systems, and shading can become part of the system.

Benefits of Smart Buildings

The functions of a smart building may reduce energy costs, increase the productivity of the facility staff, improve building operations, support sustainability efforts and enhance decision-making across the organization.

One example of energy efficiency is how the system turns on or off the air conditioning system online for a particular zone in the building. Another feature is electrical loads that are grouped into categories from critical to high priority to non-essential.

When the building load is rising and approaching the high limit setting, the nonessential loads are turned off in their subgroup order, followed by the high-priority loads

Smart Buildings in the age of the internet

Your building isn’t considered a Smart Building unless everything in it is connected. And your building is not connected unless the tenants inside it are. That is why Smart Buildings are outfitted with high-speed internet services to function “smartly”. Since businesses and industries now heavily rely on the internet, an increase in speed could mean an increase in production and revenue.

The Payoff for Smart Buildings

Let’s take a look at MGM Resorts International as an example. The company acquired several hotels with various types of building automation systems, all of which saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars with efficient energy systems.

“When you pay in excess of $1 million monthly for energy, even 5% savings is a huge amount of money,” according to John Leslie, manager of energy and building automation at MGM Resorts in his interview with Siemens. The system he built for The Mirage in Las Vegas uses load-shedding programs to keep from operating during peak demand times.

“The highest rate can occur between 1 [and]7 p.m. If we can reduce energy usage and keep equipment from starting during that time, it can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars saved,” Leslie said. “The Mirage is outfitted with a chilled water program that constantly measures set points, heat loads, and demand, as well as weather stations that monitor wind, weather, humidity and sunrise/sunset data,” Mr. Leslie added.

Building managers and owners who offer seat leasing in the Philippines can also benefit if they turn their property in Smart Buildings. This is because they will have the control capability so they can fine-tune processes to lower energy and maintenance costs.